• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

White supremacy is terrorism.

Mobile Menu

  • 4 Directions VA 2025 Raffle
  • 2025 Activism
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Open Thread

Open Thread

by John Cole|  February 4, 20113:13 pm| 200 Comments

This post is in: Get off my grass you damned kids

FacebookTweetEmail

Sorry to not give notice, but I have been on the road. While driving, I listened to Rush as long as I could- I made it seven minutes. Then switched to DC 101, and I have to say, the status of rock and roll is not good. Awful, I would say some guy screaming out of tune about getting his punk ass off the street and then something about closing the god damned door. That was all I could take of that, before I contemplated switching back to Limbaugh. I just turned the radio off and finished the drive in silence.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « My sweet neocons
Next Post: No His Mind Is Not For Rent »

Reader Interactions

200Comments

  1. 1.

    piratedan

    February 4, 2011 at 3:16 pm

    I invested in both a 6 disk CD player and XM Radio and I still consider it money well spent, keeps me off the radio because the number of stations that can play three decent songs in a row is about as rare as a compassionate Republican these days.

  2. 2.

    The Dangerman

    February 4, 2011 at 3:18 pm

    Gotta cue up the other Rush (Geddy and company); Neil Peart may be the best rock drummer around.

  3. 3.

    stuckinred

    February 4, 2011 at 3:20 pm

    Uh, they have these things called iPods.

  4. 4.

    Art

    February 4, 2011 at 3:20 pm

    We do a lot of traveling to visit with family, and I couldn’t do it without satellite radio.

    Terrestrial radio just sucks.

  5. 5.

    jeffreyw

    February 4, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    Random pot of Italian beef.

  6. 6.

    Tony J

    February 4, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    You know, you can play CDs in these new fangled automobiles. I hear you can even plug your personal gramatophone into some form of artificial shouting machine that will let you listen to all kinds of things you like without too much trouble.

    Christ, Cole. Do you have to heat your Smoothing Iron in the oven before getting unsightly creases out of your smock? You are not a lost child of the Amish, let it go.

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    February 4, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    I don’t miss DC101. Very restricted playlist.

    Miss WHFS terribly.

    Sounds like you were treated to Panic at the Disco? Which is not even a new song.

  8. 8.

    Punchy

    February 4, 2011 at 3:23 pm

    I’m torn between rooting for the hated, HATED Packers and the Cheapshot Artists Formally Known as The Hines Ward Steelers. All I’m left with is to root for injuries and/or a bomb scare. What a shitty SB choice for me.

    As for radio, why not sportstalk radio?

  9. 9.

    twiffer

    February 4, 2011 at 3:23 pm

    @stuckinred: beat me too the punch.

    even if your car does not have an AUX port, there are adapters that will play it over FM. you have to remove your antenna for ’em to work properly, but they do work well.

  10. 10.

    Nicole

    February 4, 2011 at 3:23 pm

    Thanks, John. You put in just enough description that I had to Google to figure out the song or let my curiosity and mild OCD torment me all afternoon. Panic At the Disco, “I Write Sins Not Tragedies.” Yeah, I don’t get them either.

  11. 11.

    Poopyman

    February 4, 2011 at 3:24 pm

    @Tony J: To be honest, if he’s listening to Rush, it might be on an 8-track.

  12. 12.

    Nicole

    February 4, 2011 at 3:24 pm

    @Elizabelle: Clearly you are much more up on music five years ago than I am- I had to look it up. I think I’d better go sit in my rocking chair and pop in a cassette while I play Duck Hunt.

  13. 13.

    stuckinred

    February 4, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    @twiffer: If you are in the boonies they work with out yankin the antenna.

  14. 14.

    Josie

    February 4, 2011 at 3:26 pm

    @jeffreyw: I made your recipe for sausage and sauerkraut today. It seemed like the perfect cold weather dish, and it is so yummy.

  15. 15.

    Lavocat

    February 4, 2011 at 3:27 pm

    How long before you start yelling at all of us: “get offa my lawn!”?

    Cole, the years have not been kind to you.

  16. 16.

    JGabriel

    February 4, 2011 at 3:27 pm

    John Cole:

    I have to say, the status of rock and roll is not good. Awful, I would say some guy screaming out of tune about getting his punk ass off the street and then something about closing the god damned door.

    Christ, Cole, I’ve got 5-10 years on you, and even I’m not as old fogey as you are when it come to music. Why, for instance, when I was a college radio dj in the 80’s, I had to walk 3 miles carrying 165 lbs of vinyl on my back, uphill both ways, just so we kidz could hear, speaking of loud punks, The Replacements.

    .

  17. 17.

    cmorenc

    February 4, 2011 at 3:27 pm

    This is exactly why I got Sirius/XM Satellite radio a couple of years ago, and have since not listened to more than an hour aggregate total of regular FM-band or AM-band radio altogether. Even their different music-genre stations can sometimes get mildly repetitive, e.g. I’ll hear the same blues song 3x during the same week on Sirius 74 (blues station), I’ve found that their different-genre stations are each pretty good, except that for some reason the selection of their two classical stations runs a bit heavier toward the more recent more romantic era, and a bit less so toward the Baroque or Beetoven eras. One annoying downside is that their purported “Talk Left” station, #146, is a real mixed bag, with not quite enough of the really good (e.g. Thom Harman, Stephanie Miller, and perhaps Ed Schultz who even so isn’t everyone’s cup of tea) but too much of the mediocre-to-awful (Alex Bennett, the lunatic leftie Mike Malloy, and the unbearably shallow-thinking, obnoxious PUMA Lynn Samuels).

  18. 18.

    Poopyman

    February 4, 2011 at 3:27 pm

    @Elizabelle: I miss WHFS too, but to be honest, I pretty much grew out of their playlist before they went off the air.

    In “normal” times I’d recommend the classical stations, but both WETA and WBJC are pimping for dollars this week.

  19. 19.

    soonergrunt

    February 4, 2011 at 3:27 pm

    I have Sirius XM in my car. Worth every penny. When I’m not listening to that, I have a 64 GB SD card of high quality MP3 and WMA files plugged in. three different NPR channels, and oh, yeah, my android phone streams Pandora through the bluetooth connection to my car stereo if it comes to it.
    These are not new technologies, either. Any car built in the last five years should support at least one of these, and if not, then a new car radio should.

  20. 20.

    Mark S.

    February 4, 2011 at 3:28 pm

    @Punchy:

    It can be tough to find sports radio out in the boonies. Actually, it’s pretty hard to find anything besides Rush and insane radioevangelevists.

  21. 21.

    ABloomquist

    February 4, 2011 at 3:28 pm

    I live in the Twin Cities, so I get to enjoy 89.3 The Current all day long (seriously, if you want to check out new music that isn’t Top 40 Hits, stream their feed. It’s good stuff).

  22. 22.

    Geoduck

    February 4, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    @Punchy: I like the Packers because they are (more or less) owned by their fans. If my local taeam (Seattle) had to play them more often, perhaps I’d feel differently..

  23. 23.

    kdaug

    February 4, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    I’m bettin’ you’ve got a fine singing voice, Cole. Why let others do for you what you can do for yourself? (Provided no passengers in the car, of course).

    ETA: (In my best Eddie Murphy voice) ROXXXX-ANNNE!

  24. 24.

    Mojotron

    February 4, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    you can hear the quality of the music degrade as you travel from Baltimore to DC. As a kid I didn’t care much for the Greaseman and DC101’s heavy rotation of Skynyrd, Foreigner, and 38 Special, now those are “the good old days”.

  25. 25.

    cleek

    February 4, 2011 at 3:32 pm

    i tried Rush once in high school. the stuff gave me a wicked headache.

  26. 26.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    February 4, 2011 at 3:33 pm

    @Punchy:

    All I’m left with is to root for injuries and/or a bomb scare.

    I’m pulling for an unexpectedly prolonged blizzard followed by a midnight, no-injuries dome collapse. Nobody gets hurt and it creates lots of new construction jobs, so it’s a win-win.

  27. 27.

    Chyron HR

    February 4, 2011 at 3:34 pm

    Shoulda turned the dial to 94.7 FM, the classic rock station.

    OH NO WAIT THEY DON’T PLAY CLASSIC ROCK ANYMORE BECAUSE WHO WOULD WANT TO LISTEN TO THAT HA HA HA assholes

  28. 28.

    MikeJ

    February 4, 2011 at 3:35 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Miss WHFS terribly.

    HFS was great before they made any money. Which I understand is not a commercially viable proposition, but for music fans it was a better station. By about ’96 the quality had nosedived.

    I had a friend who did, uhm afternoon drive? Evenings? I forget. At DC101. I don’t know that I ever actually heard him on the air.

  29. 29.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    February 4, 2011 at 3:35 pm

    Maybe you should check out this band. I hear they’re pretty rad.

    1st song ‘Truculent’ is an ode to the SUV. Their, uh, ‘hit.’

  30. 30.

    Splitting Image

    February 4, 2011 at 3:35 pm

    All you need is Love

    Throw out that other garbage.

  31. 31.

    geg6

    February 4, 2011 at 3:35 pm

    Is your car so old that it doesn’t have even a CD player?

    I mean, I am so technologically backwards that I don’t own an iPod and can’t figure out how to use the one on my iPhone, so I can relate to that. But not even a CD? Seriously, Cole?

  32. 32.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    February 4, 2011 at 3:35 pm

    I like Panic at the Disco. That was their Fall Out Boy influenced album. If haven’t heard that song much, John, I would also say it has something to do with your state. Though I love the “music sux now” comment: When has it never sucked?

  33. 33.

    JCJ

    February 4, 2011 at 3:36 pm

    @ABloomquist
    I heard The Current a couple of years ago when I took my daughter to see the University of Minnesota. I stream it on occassion since it is high quality stuff.

  34. 34.

    Sentient Puddle

    February 4, 2011 at 3:38 pm

    Sounds like we need to help you find the good modern rock. I haven’t paid enough attention to it lately, so I might not be the best person to list off a bunch of stuff, but it’s hard to go wrong with Queens of the Stone Age.

  35. 35.

    freelancer

    February 4, 2011 at 3:38 pm

    To be fair, Panic’s first album had entirely too much influence from the band that signed them, Fall Out Boy. Their second album is quite a stunning piece of music; there’s a heavy Sgt Pepper feel to it.

    From a Mountain in the Middle of the Cabins

    She Had the World

    I don’t listen to their first album, cause it does nothing for me.

  36. 36.

    geg6

    February 4, 2011 at 3:39 pm

    @cleek:

    Me, too! That really is the suckiest band ever!

    Oh, wait…well, I tried that, too. ;-)

  37. 37.

    JGabriel

    February 4, 2011 at 3:40 pm

    Sarah Palin® has applied to trademark her name. (via TPM)

    (I’m MuParadigm in the comments there.)
    .

  38. 38.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    February 4, 2011 at 3:40 pm

    @JGabriel: Loudest concert I ever attended was the Replacements. Had no idea what songs they played most of the night. You literally couldn’t tell. Afterward I heard the covered U2s I Will Follow. They were also smashed. In short, an awesome show.

    Signed a fellow vinyl-carting college DJ from the 80s

  39. 39.

    Violet

    February 4, 2011 at 3:41 pm

    On road trips I love scanning through stations, both AM and FM. There’s nothing more fun that picking up some AM station from who knows where.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYoidn4QRMI

    Switching it over to AM
    Searching for a truer sound
    Can’t recall the call letters
    Steel guitar and settle down
    Catching an all-night station somewhere in Louisiana
    It sounds like 1963, but for now it sounds like heaven

  40. 40.

    Catsy

    February 4, 2011 at 3:41 pm

    Oh man, DC 101. I used to listen to the Greaseman in the morning before school all the time in the 80’s. With the benefit of age and hindsight it’s obvious what a bigot he was, and I’ve tried and failed to enjoy listening to some of his classic material, but he was funny as hell when I was a kid and didn’t really understand half the jokes or why they were so offensive.

  41. 41.

    stuckinred

    February 4, 2011 at 3:42 pm

    @Splitting Image: Fuckin A right. I saw him/them about a year before he died and was amazed how well he and the music held up. Most people have no clue. Check out this pic of the Whiskey in 66 and note the bands.

  42. 42.

    PeakVT

    February 4, 2011 at 3:42 pm

    Some Cyclone Yasi pics.

  43. 43.

    JGabriel

    February 4, 2011 at 3:42 pm

    @geg6: I think cleek actually did mean the band.

    .

  44. 44.

    geg6

    February 4, 2011 at 3:43 pm

    @Comrade Javamanphil:

    You don’t know loud. I saw the Ramones at CBGBs in 1977. Not just loud. Dirty and violent, too. It was fucking awesome.

  45. 45.

    Nerull

    February 4, 2011 at 3:43 pm

    I looked up that song on youtube to see if I remembered it. I did. It sucks.

    Also, the video had a very Clockwork Orange wannabe vibe to it.

  46. 46.

    ET

    February 4, 2011 at 3:45 pm

    DC area radio sucks rotten eggs. There is a Baltimore station whose call numbers I can’t remember (Jack-FM 102.7 I think but don’t quote), plays80s on the weekends.

  47. 47.

    stuckinred

    February 4, 2011 at 3:45 pm

    @geg6: All you do is plug it into whatever computer you have your music on and launch iTunes (why do I think you don’t have iTunes?) and manage the musicon yer phone from there.

  48. 48.

    geg6

    February 4, 2011 at 3:46 pm

    @JGabriel:

    Well, if he did, I can relate. The band gave me more headaches than the amyl ever did. Whenever I hear the opening strains of one of their songs, the radio (or whatever) gets immediately turned off.

  49. 49.

    MikeJ

    February 4, 2011 at 3:46 pm

    @JGabriel: You play the Mats on a thread about radio and don’t go for Left of the Dial?

    The version of Kids Don’t Follow you did post is excellent. High quality sound, great mix, they even appear mostly sober. More sober than I ever saw them in the 80s.

  50. 50.

    Tony J

    February 4, 2011 at 3:46 pm

    @Poopyman:

    To be fair, the average West Virginian professional needs – something – to drown out the sound of his mule’s laboured breathing.

  51. 51.

    singfoom

    February 4, 2011 at 3:48 pm

    Wait. People listen to commercial radio still?

    Really? Yeah, get thyself an iPod and a car radio adapter Cole. No reason to subject yourself to horrible top 40 music and awful advertisements and the assholery of radio DJs.

    Or hell, if you have a real old car, make yourself a mix tape fer Chrissakes.

    I will say this though:

    When I was a travelling consultant and regularly flew into Atlanta at 11PM and had an hour drive up to my hotel, listening to Mark Levin scream about liberals etc certainly kept me awake in the rental car…..though I might have scared other drivers with my screaming and gesturing at the radio as I drove.

  52. 52.

    piratedan

    February 4, 2011 at 3:48 pm

    anyone up to sharing anime preferences?

    my preferred list, in no apparent order:

    Cowboy BeBop
    Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
    FLCL/Fooly Cooly
    Working
    His and Her Circumstances/Kare Kano
    Trigun
    Hikaru No Go
    Beck
    Cross Game
    Lovely Complex

    as always, ymmv ;-)

  53. 53.

    JGabriel

    February 4, 2011 at 3:49 pm

    @Comrade Javamanphil:

    Loudest concert I ever attended was the Replacements. … They were also smashed.

    It would have been more unusual if they were sober.

    Signed a fellow vinyl-carting college DJ from the 80s

    We were really pretty lucky at our station. About 25k records, about a quarter of it jazz. I only had to cart the occasional import, or lost/stolen punk classic, from my collection.

    .

  54. 54.

    geg6

    February 4, 2011 at 3:49 pm

    @stuckinred:

    Oh, I have iTunes on both my computer (we get a deal through the University) and on my iPhone.

    I’ve never gotten far enough to actually try to play a download. I’ve never been able to successfully download a song. I’ve tried a couple of times. It’s never worked. And, no, I can’t explain what I did or didn’t do that caused the problem. I have no idea.

  55. 55.

    bemused

    February 4, 2011 at 3:49 pm

    Randi Rhodes just played the best clip from a Rush show. I don’t know how this caller got through but he asked Rush why conservatives are celebrating Reagan’s 100th birthday and revere him when Reagan gave undocumented immigrants a free pass plus many more examples of Reagan policies that are totally opposite of republican priorities today. Rush sounded tired because he just couldn’t seem to muster up any howling outrage or tell the caller he was a pinhead even when the caller pressed Rush on not answering his question.
    It hasn’t been the easiest week for Rush. He had to pretend he was just joking about not caring that liberal journalists got beat up in Egypt after it happened to a Fox news person.

  56. 56.

    Holden Pattern

    February 4, 2011 at 3:49 pm

    I’m going to jump on the dogpile here — your problem is not with the current state of rock and/or roll. Your problem is with commercial radio, which just absolutely, unbelievably, totally and completely sucks.

  57. 57.

    burnspbesq

    February 4, 2011 at 3:50 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Miss WHFS terribly.

    You are far from alone on that.

  58. 58.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    February 4, 2011 at 3:50 pm

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:

    You guys might wish you hadn’t said that.

    RT @wfaachannel8: WFAA.com has confirmed that ice on the roof of Cowboys Stadium has fallen and injured 5 people. 1 critical

  59. 59.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    February 4, 2011 at 3:50 pm

    @JGabriel: Posted about that earlier in the thread. I like the comment about how she’s just trying to get an R after her name without having to run for office.

  60. 60.

    Ruckus

    February 4, 2011 at 3:50 pm

    @Tony J:
    That’s bad. Funny as hell but bad none the less.

  61. 61.

    Gozer

    February 4, 2011 at 3:51 pm

    I invested in a USASpec Ipod/Iphone interface for my car. I even adds a regular line-in capability so you can use any electronic device that has a headphone-out with the radio.

    It definitely makes long rides bearable.

  62. 62.

    burnspbesq

    February 4, 2011 at 3:51 pm

    Some of you may find this funny.

    http://lawandpolitics.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_lawandpolitics_archive.html#113756175348882886

  63. 63.

    cleek

    February 4, 2011 at 3:53 pm

    @JGabriel:
    oh no, i like Rush the band.

  64. 64.

    Poopyman

    February 4, 2011 at 3:53 pm

    @geg6: Loud? Saw The Plasmatics in a ballroom in NY in ’78(ish). Wendy O. Williams was firing her (miked) machine gun and I STILL couldn’t hear it.

    My hearing these days isn’t so good, come to think of it.

  65. 65.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    February 4, 2011 at 3:53 pm

    @geg6: Nice. I saw the Cows at CBGBs and must admit that the bugle is an underrated rock instrument (and also exceptionally loud.)

  66. 66.

    Paul in KY

    February 4, 2011 at 3:54 pm

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent): I’ve seen them in concert. With Fall Out Boy & Blink 182. Liked their show.

  67. 67.

    JGabriel

    February 4, 2011 at 3:54 pm

    @MikeJ:

    The version of Kids Don’t Follow you did post is excellent.

    Yeah, I’m amazed by those videos. Apparently, it was a local music contest, and someone at Twin Records decided to hire a professional videographer to tape it with board sound. I mean, it was 1981, and hardly anyone had heard of those bands yet. Just amazing luck to catch a good ‘Mats performance so early in their career.

    .

  68. 68.

    Poopyman

    February 4, 2011 at 3:55 pm

    @geg6: Youtube has “Tom Sawyer”, and that’s about it. That says something.

  69. 69.

    twiffer

    February 4, 2011 at 3:55 pm

    @piratedan: i am a dabbler, but i do like cowboy bebop. liked wolf’s rain enough to buy the DVDs. i’ll confess to watching bleach, cause, well, BIG FUCKING SWORDS!!!! not much else, though.

    FLCL just confuses the hell out of me.

  70. 70.

    jeffreyw

    February 4, 2011 at 3:56 pm

    @Josie: Thank you, it was pretty yummy, tho I think I wasted the great tasting Cajun breakfast sausage in it. What kind did you use?

  71. 71.

    cleek

    February 4, 2011 at 3:56 pm

    @geg6:
    my iTunes account went through a period where i couldn’t complete a download. was like that for months. i spent a lot of time with Apple tech support, who couldn’t do anything to fix the problem, but gave me plenty of refunds. multiple computers, plenty of re-installs, etc.. i ended up switching to Amazon downloads.

    iTunes is now working for me again, but i still buy most things from Amazon.

  72. 72.

    Violet

    February 4, 2011 at 3:56 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:
    OMG, seriously? Holy cow! I knew they were having bad weather in Dallas, but…that’s bad.

  73. 73.

    Mnemosyne

    February 4, 2011 at 3:58 pm

    Great, now I have that stupid Panic at the Disco song stuck in my head.

    I do still listen to a lot of commercial radio (my 3 mile commute is too short to justify satellite radio). It’s kind of freaky how I can listen to songs by current bands and hear what I was listening to in the 80s. Like this one by Dogs Die in Hot Cars.

  74. 74.

    stuckinred

    February 4, 2011 at 3:58 pm

    @geg6: You have to have an account with Apple to buy music on iTunes but you can import music from a cd or other external source. Just insert a cd and launch iTunes. The cd will appear on the left and you just click on it and it will ask you if you want to import. If you have audio files on an external drive you can drag and drop them into iTunes.

    eta

    If you have a mac there is a program called cosmopod that will download and youtube’s right into your iTunes.

  75. 75.

    piratedan

    February 4, 2011 at 3:59 pm

    @twiffer: I watch Bleach too (its a habit I suppose), FLCL I do believe that the artists were chemically aided in their “storyline” but the music is top notch and the 3rd epsiode is poignant in many ways. I liked Wolf’s Rain too, just not enough to start the list (and that’s the case with a lot of series I have to say)

  76. 76.

    geg6

    February 4, 2011 at 3:59 pm

    @Poopyman:

    Hah! That would have been a great show, I bet. Wendy O was teh awesome.

    And, yes, I’m with you on the hearing loss thing. All those years in basement night clubs with punk bands just whaling away, the entire crowd screaming and bashing each other (often in the head/ear), and sometimes police sirens like a cherry on top. Which reminds of the story of when I saw the Sex Pistols at the Decade, another great defunct punk/rock club in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh…

    Ah, my youth.

  77. 77.

    kindness

    February 4, 2011 at 3:59 pm

    On long road trips where I know I won’t get reception the whole way or don’t know the local stations I have found my i-pod to be my best source. Just run it through the car stereo & I have tunes I know I like. 37 days worth.

  78. 78.

    kdaug

    February 4, 2011 at 3:59 pm

    @cmorenc: Personally, I’m more a Dropkick Murphys/Pogues kind of guy, but YMMV.

  79. 79.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    February 4, 2011 at 4:01 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Yikes! What a shame. I did specifically ask Santa Claus for “no injuries” (well, I’d make an exception for Roethlisberger’s face).

  80. 80.

    geg6

    February 4, 2011 at 4:01 pm

    @Comrade Javamanphil:

    I saw the Cows at CBGBs

    Truly the dumpiest rock club of all time. Truly legendary filth there. I never once went to the bathroom there. Too terrified.

  81. 81.

    JGabriel

    February 4, 2011 at 4:01 pm

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent):

    Posted about that [Palin trademark] earlier in the thread. I like the comment about how she’s just trying to get an R after her name without having to run for office.

    You did? Must be an earlier thread, cause I can’t find it in this one.

    And yeah, the comment thread is pretty good on that one.

    .

  82. 82.

    gnomedad

    February 4, 2011 at 4:01 pm

    The only thing more painful than listening to Rush is the thought of millions of people slurping him up.

  83. 83.

    Dennis SGMM

    February 4, 2011 at 4:01 pm

    What a bunch of dilettantes. When I was granted my driver’s license back in 1964 it was AM all the way, baby. I don’t think that you could even buy an American car with an AM-FM radio. And who needed one? You had Top 40 rock, News Radio (Sans blowhards), and Classics (Peggy Lee, Eddie Fisher, the Mills Brothers) – and all through one speaker (Vibrasonic if you were cool). FM was for long haired kooks who listened to classical music or jazz and who cares about that shit?

    I concluded that driving was meant to foster introspection. Be grateful that you have so many options now. It was much worse.

  84. 84.

    Maude

    February 4, 2011 at 4:02 pm

    I someone is going to listen to Rush in their car, shouldn’t they bring a sick bag like they use on the airlines?

  85. 85.

    JGabriel

    February 4, 2011 at 4:03 pm

    @gnomedad:

    The only thing more painful than listening to Rush is the thought of millions of people slurping him up.

    Oh god, the mind-visual on that is just disgusting.

    .

  86. 86.

    Mark

    February 4, 2011 at 4:03 pm

    Blue Rodeo‘s got it all over Rush if you’re looking for Canadian music John.

  87. 87.

    Jay

    February 4, 2011 at 4:03 pm

    “I would say some guy screaming out of tune about getting his punk ass off the street…”

    The part about getting one’s “punk ass” off the street is from 3rd Eye Blind’s song, “Graduate.” Late ’90s. I was then in my late teens and watching “Dawson’s Creek” to try to get points with the girls.

    I’d add that Steve Jenkins, the lead singer of Third Eye Blind, is living proof of how evil meth is. An admitted user, he once turned down Charlize Theron’s marriage proposal. What else but meth use explains THAT?

  88. 88.

    13th Generation

    February 4, 2011 at 4:04 pm

    shoegaze

  89. 89.

    geg6

    February 4, 2011 at 4:04 pm

    @stuckinred:

    Well, as I mentioned, the University has a deal with iTunes and I set up an account when it was first announced several years ago. In addition, I was told when I bought my iPhone that I could use my University iTunes account on my iPhone. That would all be through Apple, right?

  90. 90.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    February 4, 2011 at 4:05 pm

    @Maude: I love the way this works for either Rush one might hear on the radio.

  91. 91.

    BGinCHI

    February 4, 2011 at 4:05 pm

    @Mark: Or The Tragically Hip.

  92. 92.

    Buck

    February 4, 2011 at 4:05 pm

    Cole:

    I just turned the radio off and finished the drive in silence.

    For traveling, XM saved me.

    But with your same reasoning, I’m ready to turn my TV off and sit in silence. Crappy, crappy television.

  93. 93.

    twiffer

    February 4, 2011 at 4:05 pm

    @stuckinred: yeah, as long as there are no strong FM signals. granted, my new car as an AUX port, so, not an issue anymore.

  94. 94.

    abscam

    February 4, 2011 at 4:06 pm

    @Tony J: I am with John 100% on this, but you have me in tears!

  95. 95.

    stuckinred

    February 4, 2011 at 4:06 pm

    @geg6: Yea, you would have to have a credit card entered in your account to buy stuff. I have the same set-up and am the iTunesU admin for our outfit.

  96. 96.

    cleek

    February 4, 2011 at 4:07 pm

    loudest show i’ve ever seen was Yo La Tengo at the Cat’s Cradle.

    they opened with “Evanescent Psychic Pez Drop”, which, at the 1:00 mark, comes in with one of Ira’s trademark screeching guitar attacks. but, his guitar was turned up so loud in the mix that the entire crowd gasped, flinched and winced at the first note. all over the club, hands flew to ears. we left.

    next time i saw them, we got right up to the stage, so the PA speakers were in back of us. much more pleasant that way.

    was talking to a former manager of the Cats Cradle one night at a bar and he said one night he was waiting for the Replacements to take the stage when a bunch of stumblingly drunk guys came out of the crowd and jumped on stage, grabbed the instruments and started to play (badly). he rushed on stage, and shooed them off. they were, actually, the Replacement.

  97. 97.

    geg6

    February 4, 2011 at 4:07 pm

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:

    Heh. Indeedy.

  98. 98.

    gnomedad

    February 4, 2011 at 4:09 pm

    @JGabriel:

    Sarah Palin® has applied to trademark her name. (via TPM)

    Wow, just a couple of days after Cole spotted this guy. I guess she is now officially a product. Maybe she’ll get greedy and price herself out of the market so we won’t have to hear her name anymore.

  99. 99.

    Mnemosyne

    February 4, 2011 at 4:09 pm

    @geg6:

    Can you play songs through iTunes if you rip them from a CD? If so, then cleek’s workaround is great — Amazon puts their songs directly into your iTunes folder so you don’t have to search for them. Plus they’re not DRMed like Apple’s (mostly) are if you want to move them around.

  100. 100.

    twiffer

    February 4, 2011 at 4:10 pm

    @geg6: is it just a problem with iTunes? if you run zone alarm and norton AV, there is a bug that prevents anything from downloading & installing. which is why i no longer have zone alarm as my firewall.

  101. 101.

    geg6

    February 4, 2011 at 4:10 pm

    @stuckinred:

    Then I’m back at square one, not knowing why the hell I can’t download anything. Not on the computer and not on the iPhone. Oh, well. I can survive without it. Unlike John Cole, I DO own and know how to use a CD player in my car. }->

  102. 102.

    numbskull

    February 4, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    Podcasts, dude, podcasts.

  103. 103.

    Jules

    February 4, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    My dogs are unhappy.
    It is snowing.
    The stupid dog is just standing there letting her big lab ass get covered with the falling snow…she will come in and go lay on the sofa wet.
    The concerned dog is concerned and trying to figure out where they all can pee since nothing smells right.
    The old one looked outside and said “fuck it, I’ll pee somewhere in the house later when she is not looking”.

    and of course the cats are all just pissed….

  104. 104.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    February 4, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    @geg6: Someday cleek will invent an implantable, customizable pie filter such that whenever Rush is audible, I’ll just hear The Lumberjack Song instead.

  105. 105.

    Poopyman

    February 4, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    @Dennis SGMM: You failed to mention that your car had a push button shifter.

  106. 106.

    Raenelle

    February 4, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    XM radio has a 24-7 Grateful Dead channel.

  107. 107.

    stuckinred

    February 4, 2011 at 4:12 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Yes but it’s hit and miss on whether or not the track titles will import.

  108. 108.

    stuckinred

    February 4, 2011 at 4:12 pm

    @Poopyman: Mopar!

  109. 109.

    Dog is My Co-Pilot

    February 4, 2011 at 4:12 pm

    My truck radio is tuned to NPR full-time. Can’t stand the music stations.

  110. 110.

    gbear

    February 4, 2011 at 4:13 pm

    @ABloomquist: Agreed. I realized how spoiled I’d gotten having The Current around when I bought a car that had XM radio and got the service free for three months. I couldn’t find a station I really liked on XM and just let the service expire rather than pay for it. I’ve been ‘paying’ for MPR as a member for 25 years and I think it’s money better spent than on XM.

    That said, I’ve taken entire vacations with the car radio turned off. It’s is not required that we spend every waking moment glued to some form of outside stimulation. There’s lots of times when I’d rather just listen to the environment I’m in, even it it’s only the sound of the wind and other cars on the road. Nothing wrong with silence.

  111. 111.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    February 4, 2011 at 4:13 pm

    @piratedan:
    Cowboy Bebop
    FMA
    X – The Series, not the movie
    Big O
    Third
    Ghost in the Shell

  112. 112.

    stuckinred

    February 4, 2011 at 4:13 pm

    @geg6: Tutortial

  113. 113.

    Violet

    February 4, 2011 at 4:14 pm

    @cleek:
    Henry Rollins was the loudest I’ve seen recently. Loudest overall…hmmm…not sure.

  114. 114.

    DougJ(c)

    February 4, 2011 at 4:14 pm

    @Jay:

    What an awful song that was.

  115. 115.

    suzanne

    February 4, 2011 at 4:14 pm

    Awful, I would say some guy screaming out of tune about getting his punk ass off the street and then something about closing the god damned door.

    You’re such a curmudgeon. It’s a good thing we all find it so charming.

    In your defense, Panic! At The Disco does such teh ballz. That’s why you program multiple stations in your presets. Although even that is not a failsafe. There have been times I have gone through all eight stations on my presets, and fully half of them were playing something by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I get it. You don’t wanna feel like you did that day. Shut up.

  116. 116.

    geg6

    February 4, 2011 at 4:14 pm

    @twiffer:

    LOL, your question is like Chinese to me.

    Okay, to get serious, I have Norton AV on my computer but have no idea what zone alarm is. I don’t deal with any of that stuff. The campus IT people are the only ones who could answer your question. I really, truly am a technological idiot, though I’ve never had trouble downloading anything else other than music.

    @Mnemosyne:

    I don’t know. I’ve never tried. Mainly because I wouldn’t have a clue how to do it.

    And now I know I’ve set the BJ techies to tsking and shaking their heads sadly.

  117. 117.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    February 4, 2011 at 4:16 pm

    @JGabriel: You’re right, I meant an earlier thread, not earlier in the thread.

  118. 118.

    stuckinred

    February 4, 2011 at 4:17 pm

    @stuckinred: Torque Flight Shifter

    http://farm1.static.flickr.com/44/120496403_c9d2aa8138_z.jpg?zz=1

  119. 119.

    Josie

    February 4, 2011 at 4:18 pm

    @jeffreyw: I have to stay pretty low fat, so I used a turkey kielbasa. It worked fine with the fennel and a little caraway, and I liked the slightly sweet flavor of the sauerkraut. I used a Sam Adams Octoberfest beer, which also has sort of a sweet flavor. My son is out driving a truck in this cold (for us) weather, so I am saving some for him to warm him up when he gets home.

  120. 120.

    stuckinred

    February 4, 2011 at 4:18 pm

    @geg6: You know what Groucho said “go out and get me a 12 year old child”!

  121. 121.

    Mnemosyne

    February 4, 2011 at 4:19 pm

    @stuckinred:

    I haven’t had that problem yet with Amazon. I do have a weird thing where after the site says the download is starting, I actually have to click on the file in my Downloads folder before it will actually start. Very odd.

  122. 122.

    geg6

    February 4, 2011 at 4:20 pm

    @Poopyman:

    Hey! My first car had a push button shifter, a 1966 Mercury Comet. What a piece of junk that thing was. But it only cost me $500 in 1975. I thought it was a great deal at the time.

  123. 123.

    stuckinred

    February 4, 2011 at 4:20 pm

    @Violet: Blue Cheer, Vincebus Eruptem, Summertime Blues.

  124. 124.

    MikeJ

    February 4, 2011 at 4:20 pm

    Loudest was either Eric Johnson or Ice-T.

    Eric Johnson was in a place the fire marshal said held 144 and was just indescribably loud. He’s a hypertechnical player who you know just loves twiddling with equipment for its own sake and his whole band just had way too much stuff for a place that small.

    Ice-T was at the old 9:30. The DJ set was good, and it was loud, but not too bad. For the second set Body Count played, Ice leaned over the crowd yelling that he wanted to see blood or people weren’t dancing hard enough. And they were fucking *loud*.

  125. 125.

    Redshift

    February 4, 2011 at 4:21 pm

    I dunno, Sirius/XM doesn’t seem to do it for me. I got a year free with my new car a couple of years ago and let it lapse after that, and I renewed it recently because they had a really cheap “come back” deal, and I’m still unimpressed. It’s better than commercial radio (low bar), but not $13/month better.

    It’s like cable TV; there are plenty of good things on it, and if you really want to listen to one kind of thing, it’s great. But unlike cable TV, the “things” are mostly 3-5 minutes long, and I don’t want to flip around constantly while I’m driving.

    What am I missing?

  126. 126.

    stuckinred

    February 4, 2011 at 4:21 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Stick with what works.

  127. 127.

    geg6

    February 4, 2011 at 4:24 pm

    @stuckinred:

    Yeah. Our intern told me he’d try to figure it out for me before the end of the semester. 12 yo = 20 yo, when it comes to this stuff, I’m thinking.

  128. 128.

    Redshift

    February 4, 2011 at 4:26 pm

    @MikeJ: Loudest I ever saw was Black Market Baby, who opened for the Ramones once. They were uncomfortably loud and not very good, so we sat with our fingers in our ears until they were done.

    I still remember the first concert I went to (Boston); a friend’s sister and brother-in-law took me and the friend since we weren’t old enough to drive by ourselves. We were impressed with how loud it was, and they told us that wasn’t loud; they’d seen Black Sabbath, who were above the pain threshold.

  129. 129.

    Morbo

    February 4, 2011 at 4:27 pm

    @DougJ(c): Oh, good, I thought I was the only one who didn’t like it in my social group. Nice name.

  130. 130.

    handy

    February 4, 2011 at 4:28 pm

    the lunatic leftie Mike Malloy

    That guy’s great. Crazy as hell but very cathartic to listen to during the Bush years.

  131. 131.

    HyperIon

    February 4, 2011 at 4:29 pm

    @Elizabelle wrote:

    Miss WHFS terribly.

    Wow. I haven’t thought about that station for a long time. I used to listen to it during the 80s.

    And:
    Sorry to be discouraging, Cole, but you are officially OLD.
    Your remarks on the radio fare give you away.

  132. 132.

    Redshift

    February 4, 2011 at 4:29 pm

    Oh, and Cole, DC 101 hasn’t had anything to do with the current state of rock&roll for a good fifteen or twenty years now.

  133. 133.

    NobodySpecial

    February 4, 2011 at 4:30 pm

    I take my 8GB iPod everywhere, fuck commercial radio.

    I plan on investing a bit later in a 32GB model so I can carry the majority of my music collection with me, too. Some weeks, 1500 songs just don’t cut it.

  134. 134.

    Lincolnshire Poacher

    February 4, 2011 at 4:30 pm

    The Greater Seattle Area has seen an upheaval in the airwaves too. The Smooth Jazz station and Clear Channel’s alternative Funky Monkey saw their ratings take a hit when the industry implemented a new system of determining who listens, and thus drives ad revenue. Both immediately shifted to a 90s (JIM Fm) or Modern Music (KliK) format indistinguishable from several other stations in the area.

    Colleges are eliminating their media programs and selling the stations, mostly to some NPR syndicate. Now if I want to hear the same All Things Considered program as long as possible I keep moving the dial. They air 30 minutes after the other one on the other stations, etc. Too many stations with the same unoriginal formats now.

    It must be their goal to get everyone to buy satellite streaming radio. But those channels can repeat too. On one comedy format they played the same content after three or four hours in a loop. There is Ellen Degeneres out hunting deer, watching the deer, and wondering what the deer is thinking.

    I agree … get off my lawn.

  135. 135.

    stuckinred

    February 4, 2011 at 4:30 pm

    @geg6: Yup, we call em natives.

  136. 136.

    geg6

    February 4, 2011 at 4:30 pm

    OMG, this is too funny:

    http://www.nationalenquirer.com/john_boehner_house_speaker_sex_scandal_two_women/celebrity/70110

    Wonder if this is their usual bullshit gossip mongering or if they are having another John Edwards moment?

  137. 137.

    Poopyman

    February 4, 2011 at 4:31 pm

    @stuckinred: The one in my friend’s dad’s Plymouth was in a straight line, like the AM radio. I hope I’m remembering that rightly.

  138. 138.

    Linnaeus

    February 4, 2011 at 4:31 pm

    KEXP, 90.3 FM, in Seattle. ‘Nuff said.

    Even better: KVI (570 AM) in Seattle was forced to change formats from conservative talk radio to oldies. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer radio station.

  139. 139.

    Redshift

    February 4, 2011 at 4:33 pm

    @geg6: Mike Stark posted over at GOS a few days ago that they’d talked to him (I think), and he seems to think it’s real.

  140. 140.

    gbear

    February 4, 2011 at 4:35 pm

    @JGabriel: That Replacements video wasn’t from a contest, it was from a week long celebration of Twin Citie’s bands that Twin Tone recorded with the intent of releasing a box set of Twin Cities bands. I was in one of the bands. Kind of sucked when Twin Tone dropped the ball on that project. It wasn’t until 2008 that a full movie of those concerts was released, and it was only shown once (because Paul Stark from Twin Tone is and has always been a fucking blockhead).

  141. 141.

    kindness

    February 4, 2011 at 4:35 pm

    Off the beaten track.

    Ever look through failblog? I have to from time to time just to make it through the work week. Yes, I do it at work, sue me (or tell my boss). Anyway, here’s one that’s funny in an odd duck kind of way. It’s a shot of some of the head protection gear people in Egypt have rigged up for themselves:

    http://thereifixedit.failblog.org/2011/02/04/white-trash-repairs-revolutionary-protection/

  142. 142.

    KG

    February 4, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    I have to co-sign on the “get a satellite radio already” sentiment. I’ve got Sirius, there’s about 20 rock stations alone. I also love the Blues channel and the standards/swing channel (think Rat Pack), and the radio classics channel (old radio shows) is great for a change of pace.

  143. 143.

    Violet

    February 4, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    @geg6:
    It’s been rumored for awhile, but hadn’t broken out into a real story.

  144. 144.

    JGabriel

    February 4, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    @gnomedad:

    Wow, just a couple of days after Cole spotted this guy [Former SD State Rep. & Foster-daughter Rapist Ted Klaudt]. I guess she [Palin] is now officially a product.

    That link is hilarious, gnomedad. Thanks.

    BTW, I totally stole that link and posted it in TPM’s comment thread.

    .

  145. 145.

    Pangloss

    February 4, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    When I worked at DC 101 in the early 80s, I mostly listened to WKYS.

  146. 146.

    KG

    February 4, 2011 at 4:39 pm

    @geg6: remember what Tommy Lee Jones said in Men in Black… they’re the most reliable newspapers in the world.

  147. 147.

    Bulworth

    February 4, 2011 at 4:40 pm

    Not sure why TPM feels it necessary to splash all over their front page something about an ambassador. #blogfail

  148. 148.

    twiffer

    February 4, 2011 at 4:40 pm

    @geg6: zone alarm is a fairly popular free firewall. if it’s a university PC, chances are you don’t have it. and if you only have issues downloading music from iTunes, then don’t worry. probably an account setting or authorization issue.

  149. 149.

    Chat Noir

    February 4, 2011 at 4:40 pm

    I saw my first concert 27 years ago today at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY. The Police were finishing up their Synchronicity tour shortly before they broke up. What a fabulous experience that was for a geeky 17 year old. Saw them again a few years ago at Pine Knob in Clarkston, MI, when they reunited; they were as good during their ’08 and ’09 tours as they were back in ’84.

  150. 150.

    lamh32

    February 4, 2011 at 4:42 pm

    ughh..

    I didn’t go to work today because i didn’t want to drive on the icy roads. now I’m hungry. I’m thinking of calling pizza hut, but the idea of the poor pizza guy slipping on the same ice I refuse to drive on, bothers me.

    If I did call, I guess I could give the delivery dude a BIG tip.

    I’m such a sap!!!

  151. 151.

    Raoul

    February 4, 2011 at 4:43 pm

    East of DC and Balto you have 103.1 which is even better than the old WHFS.

  152. 152.

    Turgidson

    February 4, 2011 at 4:43 pm

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:

    As a Bears fan who hates the Packers and can’t root for a sexual deviant QB either, your ideas intrigue me and I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter!

  153. 153.

    JGabriel

    February 4, 2011 at 4:46 pm

    National Enquirer via geg6:

    Capitol Hill insiders and political bloggers have been buzzing about an upcoming New York Times probe – detailing an alleged affair that the 61-year-old married father of two had with pretty Washington lobbyist LISBETH LYONS.
    __
    And an ENQUIRER investigation has uncovered a bedroom encounter that Boehner – second in line of succession to the presidency – allegedly had with LEIGH LaMORA, a 46-year-old former press secretary to ex-Colorado Congressman JOEL HEFLEY.

    I can’t say I care about the affair with LaMora, but the affair with Lyons, a lobbyist, looks like it may have a corruption angle — since her clients apparently had business before Boehner, and he supported all their positions.

    .

  154. 154.

    James Hare

    February 4, 2011 at 4:47 pm

    DC101 is one of the worst radio stations in the entire country. Once 99.1 switched to salsa music, rock in DC just died.

    I got satellite radio just because I couldn’t stand listening to the same 15 songs from the 90s mixed with the most uninspiring rock music of today all the time.

  155. 155.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    February 4, 2011 at 4:47 pm

    @Jules:

    Jules that literally made me laugh out loud. I have a concerned dog and can just picture it.

  156. 156.

    KG

    February 4, 2011 at 4:48 pm

    @JGabriel: not my area of practice, and I can’t recall from my law school IP class, but I thought you couldn’t trade mark a person’s name… and besides what goods or services is she planning on tying the mark to?

  157. 157.

    jeffreyw

    February 4, 2011 at 4:48 pm

    @Josie: I wish I had some decent beer for mine, I had a big bottle of Guinness stout but I’m saving it for a mustard recipe. I ended up using a generic light pee beer lager.

  158. 158.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    February 4, 2011 at 4:49 pm

    @BGinCHI: Time for my semi-annual pumping of Canadian rock and roll it seems….

    If you like the older stuff… Lightfoot/Young/Mitchell/Cohen/The Band (those being the folks you might have actually heard of). Props to my fellow Kingstonian Zal Yanofsky of the Loving Spoonful. Of course you guys all know the Guess Who and BTO…

    Lighthouse, Blood Sweat and Tears, the Stampeders, Triumph, The Kings, Ian Thomas (Painted Ladies), Mahogany Rush, Crowbar, Trooper, Chilliwack, April Wine, and Bruce Cockburn are all Canadian rockers you might be less familiar with.

    If you like the punk, DOA, The Viletones, The Forgotten Rebels, and Teenage Head all rocked the house. Later punk bands I remember well were the Dayglo Abortions and SNFU. DOA are the grand old men of Canadian punk (talk – action = 0) and still tour.

    Of course no look at Canadian rock is complete without mentioning the Rodeo Song by the Showdowns out of Alberta. Play that in a bar and you might get fired but the audience will love you.

    On the french side, Harmonium, Beau Dommage, Jean Leloup et les salles affaires, Pagliaro are all worth checking out. Jean Leleoup is the shit, afaic: one of the best performers I’ve ever seen period.

  159. 159.

    gene108

    February 4, 2011 at 4:54 pm

    @piratedan: FLCL contused the crap out of me the first time I saw it. It was on Adult Swim again and I watched it, because I was having a bout of insomnia.

    Made some more sense the second time around.

    The third time I really started digging the characters, the animation and the music and do rate it as one of my favorite Jap-mation (I think that’s what they were called, before people settle on anime) cartoons of all time.

    None series, I’d throw out Vampire Hunter D, Naussica and the Valley of the Wind.

    For series, I’d add Escaflowne and Nior. Nior starts of sort of slow, but it has some great plot twists at the end.

  160. 160.

    Poopyman

    February 4, 2011 at 4:54 pm

    Meanwhile, in Cairo it’s “Al Tahrir, The Musical?”

    (Needs more cowbell, if you ask me.)

  161. 161.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    February 4, 2011 at 4:55 pm

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: If you really want to keep it right, you need to sub in The Rodeo Song. <- NSFW… really NSFW.

  162. 162.

    Josie

    February 4, 2011 at 4:57 pm

    @jeffreyw: I’ll be looking for the mustard recipe. I still have one bottle of beer in the fridge and will save it just for that. I like the way your recipes read–just like I cook.

  163. 163.

    Chris Wolf

    February 4, 2011 at 4:59 pm

    We have WBAB on Long Island. I make a bet with whoever’s in the car with me at the time…before we get to where we’re going, we’ll hear either Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin or Van Halen. It’s a suckers bet.

  164. 164.

    jeffreyw

    February 4, 2011 at 5:01 pm

    @Josie: There is a mustard recipe or two on there (w4d), search for stout mustard, there may be more than two, can’t remember now, awesome mustard.
    edit ti add: http://whats4dinnersolutions.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/whole-grain-stout-mustard/

  165. 165.

    Jager

    February 4, 2011 at 5:02 pm

    @Dennis SGMM:

    Corvettes had AM-FM radios in the 60’s. The cool set up was dual speakers on the package shelf and a reverb and that was as good as it got. Some of the old AM Top 40’s were pretty good, WLS, CKLW, KOMA were all on my buttons, only get them after the sun went down, though. I learned all about R and B listening to John R out of Memphis, “dis is John R waay down South in Dixie”! John was the blackest white man that ever existed. He followed Rufus Thomas (Carla Thomas’ daddy) Rufus had a hit himself with “Walkin the Dog”…

  166. 166.

    gwangung

    February 4, 2011 at 5:03 pm

    J Lo part of President Obama’s Super Bowl Party.

    Damn. Obama’s FINALLY failed me.

  167. 167.

    JGabriel

    February 4, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    @KG:

    I thought you couldn’t trade mark a person’s name… and besides what goods or services is she planning on tying the mark to?

    Me no lawyer, but apparently you can trademark a name by, as you say, tying it to goods and services:

    For Sarah Palin’s application, there are two classes of commercial service for which her name would be a registered trademark. One is for “information about political elections” and “providing a website featuring information about political issues.” The second is for “educational and entertainment services … providing motivational speaking services in the field of politics, culture, business and values.”
    __
    The “Bristol Palin”* application is for “educational and entertainment services, namely, providing motivational speaking services in the field of life choices.”

    *Yes, Bristol is getting a trademark too, but not Todd or Willow. Must be a two-for-one sale.

    .

  168. 168.

    jinxtigr

    February 4, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    Bad Brains played at my college. Hampshire College. Big stoner college. People heard they were a reggae band XD

    They beat on the PA like it was a goddamn stompbox. Stoned people were fleeing in terror from the first notes, all upset :) it was epic, and one of the loudest noises I’ve ever heard :)

    Honorable mention- as a kid I went with some cousins to a Night Ranger concert in a hockey arena. The air literally crackled from volume. Pity the music was so lame that caused this :)

  169. 169.

    Jager

    February 4, 2011 at 5:06 pm

    @polyorchnid octopunch:

    What! No Gino Vanelli?

  170. 170.

    Violet

    February 4, 2011 at 5:06 pm

    @gwangung:
    It’s weird she seems to be the only singer/actor/celebrity invited. His daughters must be American Idol fans.

  171. 171.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    February 4, 2011 at 5:08 pm

    @JGabriel: Is it OK to give Lyons a medal for bravery and then charge her with corruption?

  172. 172.

    ErinSiobhan

    February 4, 2011 at 5:10 pm

    I can’t believe you apologized to this lot.

  173. 173.

    Jager

    February 4, 2011 at 5:12 pm

    @JGabriel:

    I’m going to trademark Todd Palin for educational services and then you guys can write shit about Sarah on the website.

    Things like;

    Sarah is making good money, but man, I’m not getting any of her hot little ass anymore and she’s bitchier than ever.

  174. 174.

    Josie

    February 4, 2011 at 5:18 pm

    @jeffreyw: Thanks

  175. 175.

    bago

    February 4, 2011 at 5:18 pm

    At home I wave at my screen and tell it to play music I like. (Kinect + Xbox + last.fm)

    On the road I’d use a laptop or smartphone.

    Seriously, what kind of Moron would use precious bandwidth for analog streaming? Controlled by local non-selectable interests no less? This sounds like some century old shit, like Roosevelt did 80 years ago.
    Goddamn.

  176. 176.

    Elizabelle

    February 4, 2011 at 5:37 pm

    From the Dallas Morning News website:

    Falling ice at Cowboys Stadium injures 6, one critically
    http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/arlington/headlines/20110204-falling-ice-at-cowboys-stadium-injures-7-one-critically.ece

    Six people were injured, one of them critically, when ice fell from the roof of Cowboys Stadium this afternoon, authorities said. The accident happened about 1:15 p.m. at the stadium, site of Sunday’s Super Bowl XLV.

    … Huge sheets of ice and snow atop the stadium could be seen sliding off the dome and crashing down 200 feet to the ground as temperatures warmed and the sun reappeared this afternoon. … [fire dept Lt. Pedro Arevalo] said ice falling from the roof of Cowboys Stadium was not something authorities had dealt with in the past and therefore wasn’t something they had planned for.

    He added that authorities are confident they now have the potentially dangerous areas of the stadium blocked off and that people can get in and out of the stadium safely.

    Hey, if this is what it takes for people to get over their “global warming” denial and consider extreme weather, which we’ve been seeing for a few years now …

  177. 177.

    AAA Bonds

    February 4, 2011 at 5:43 pm

    Then switched to DC 101, and I have to say, the status of rock and roll is not good. Awful, I would say some guy screaming out of tune

    I’m sorry you got old?

  178. 178.

    horse dave

    February 4, 2011 at 5:49 pm

    If you can get DC 101 you should try tuning to 89.7 WTMD then swing by and pick me up from work and buy me beer. In gratitude I will talk endlessly about my dogs and show you pictures.

    Yeah, DC area radio suxs except for WTMD. I even turn off NPR when they present the Repub side. I know what they are going to say and I can’t take it.

    Good luck with traffic, Dave

  179. 179.

    JGabriel

    February 4, 2011 at 5:58 pm

    @gbear:

    @JGabriel: That Replacements video wasn’t from a contest, it was from a week long celebration of Twin Citie’s bands that Twin Tone recorded …

    Thanks for the correction, gbear. The only reason I knew it was Twin Tone who hired people to do the recordings was from an earlier comment by you. I must have come up with the contest idea from eliding it in my memory with something else, or bad info on youtube, or something like that.

    .

  180. 180.

    JGabriel

    February 4, 2011 at 6:00 pm

    @MikeJ:

    You play the Mats on a thread about radio and don’t go for Left of the Dial?

    Good point. In my defense, I plead special dispensation: I really wanted to link those amazing ’81 videos.

    .

  181. 181.

    Parrotlover77

    February 4, 2011 at 6:13 pm

    Since the invention of using the intertrons on my phone, I haveen’t touched Sirius/XM (which got much crappier since the merger) let alone terrestrial radio. I’m only like 7 years younger than Cole. I’m getting scared about the next decade for my own personal mental health.

  182. 182.

    DFH no.6

    February 4, 2011 at 6:51 pm

    You’re wrong, John. The status of “rock and roll” (or whatever of the numerous current sub-genres you could name) is quite good. In fact, I’d say it’s great. You just have to find it somewhere besides crap commercial radio.

    Thank the FSM there’s this thing called “the internet”. And “the IPod”, as others have noted here already.

    Actually, it’s been many years since radio was a reliable source of good contemporary music. Here in Hellhole, AZ (currently half-frozen; isn’t that ironic?) there was a station, KZON (now defunct), that was all right, but the best we have now is “The X” (used to be The Edge, and used to be better, too). The X will play some good new stuff, like Gorillaz or Metric or Silversun Pickups, some good 80’s and 90’s like Pixies and Nirvana, but then a whole lot of crap like Panic at the Disco or My Chemical Romance, etc.. I’m guessing you hooked up with a similar station.

    Try this instead: check out the 2011 Coachella lineup (I’m a geezer, so way at the outer edge of the Coachella demographic, but I’m going again this year and I’m stoked). It’s fairly representative of what “the kids” are listening to these days, and there are over 180 bands who will be playing this time. They all play music they have written recently (even those who have been around for a while). Use the intertubes to sample the music of these 180+ bands. You won’t like all of it; you may even dislike the majority of it. That’s ok – nobody will like all these bands, and even those who have the most catholic of musical tastes probably would dig maybe half of them.

    But you surely will find a fair number you can get into. Try Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Animal Collective, The Chemical Brothers, Ozomatli, HEALTH, The New Pornographers. All at Coachella this year, along with almost 180 other bands.

    I’ve been listening to contemporary music and going to concerts since the sixties, always trying to keep up with what’s current and not stagnate with moldie-oldies, and IMHO there’s never been a better time for “rock” music than now.

  183. 183.

    morzer

    February 4, 2011 at 7:00 pm

    Interesting bit of news from the census data: guess which state is on track to be a minority majority state in 2030, and already has 60% of under-18s being non-white?

    http://bluevirginia.us/diary/3013/forget-red-or-blue-virginia-how-about-brown-virginia

    Yup, the Old Dominion. Bobby Lee is starting to spin in his grave.

  184. 184.

    frosty

    February 4, 2011 at 7:10 pm

    @Elizabelle: If you miss WHFS, see if you can get WTMD out of Towson University, 89.7. They even brought Weasel back!!

  185. 185.

    DFH no.6

    February 4, 2011 at 7:15 pm

    @13th Generation:

    shoegaze

    Great modern rock sub-genre. Lotta excellent bands there. John should check some of them out.

  186. 186.

    frosty

    February 4, 2011 at 7:15 pm

    @geg6: Loud? You want loud??? Grand Funk Railroad at the LA Forum. My ears rang for a day and a half afterward.

  187. 187.

    Elizabelle

    February 4, 2011 at 7:44 pm

    @frosty:

    Weasel back! You don’t say.

    Checking it out.

  188. 188.

    BruceFromOhio

    February 4, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    @Tony J: I’ll be laughing at this for days.

  189. 189.

    BruceFromOhio

    February 4, 2011 at 8:54 pm

    @Mark S.:

    Actually, it’s pretty hard to find anything besides Rush and insane radioevangelevists.

    Well, whaddyaknow. That sounds like there may be some mighty fine pirate radio markets out there. Somewhere.

  190. 190.

    piratedan

    February 4, 2011 at 9:19 pm

    @polyorchnid octopunch: ahhh we shouldn’t forget that Canada still has some decent bands still playing, Odds, Big Wheel are two of my favorites and you have forgotten the brilliant lads from Red Rider. I still have a soft spot for Shadowy Men from a Shadowy Planet because Having an Average Weekend still kicks ass to this day.

  191. 191.

    piratedan

    February 4, 2011 at 9:25 pm

    @gene108: based on what you’ve listed as liking, you might want to give Black Cat a try and maybe even This Ugly Yet Beautiful World. As for films, you might enjoy Howl’s Moving Castle and for more adult tastes, check out Paprika.

  192. 192.

    piratedan

    February 4, 2011 at 9:28 pm

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent): definately agree that GITS is a very intelligent series, I’ve enjoyed both seasons of it. Not as fond of X when I first encountered it but I’ve also found that at times I wasn’t “ready” for that particular show at the time that I was introduced to it and that others that I enjoyed the first time through didn’t have repeat viewability qualities. So maybe its time to give it another chance.

  193. 193.

    Paula

    February 4, 2011 at 10:09 pm

    Should not have read the comments on this article …

  194. 194.

    burnspbesq

    February 4, 2011 at 10:52 pm

    @polyorchnid octopunch:

    Dude, you forgot about Kathleen Edwards. Inexcusable!

  195. 195.

    burnspbesq

    February 4, 2011 at 10:58 pm

    @Jager:

    CKLW was the bomb. On a night when the conditions were good, we could get that in North Jersey. Beat the heck out of WABC.

    Beginning in 1967, and through the late 70s, the best radio station on earth was WNEW-FM. Harry Harrison, Richard Neer, Scott Muni, Jonathan Schwartz, Alison Steele, and Dennis Elsas. Later came the inimitable Vin Scelsa (who can now be heard on Sirius/XM’s The Loft). And on the rare occasions when NEW wasn’t getting it done, you could flip to WLIR.

  196. 196.

    Shelton Lankford

    February 4, 2011 at 11:17 pm

    Three words.

    Pandora, Smart phone.

  197. 197.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    February 5, 2011 at 12:17 am

    @piratedan: The Odds are done, and have been for quite a while. They do seem to get together from time to time…

  198. 198.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    February 5, 2011 at 12:23 am

    @burnspbesq: Well, given that most of the people here are Americans, I’m figuring on starting them with the classics. I could pump great bands like Warped 45s and Tom Savage Trio, Luther Wright and Sarah Harmer (and their seminal band Joe’s Funeral).. ever listened to Luther Wright and the Wrongs bluegrass version of The Wall? But you know… that stuff is all more country, I was looking for rock and roll (and the Rodeo Song is about as punk rock as you can get, even if they’re a country band). If you’re liking the alt country, there’s a lot of really excellent stuff going on up here; we get a band rolling through my home town about twice a month these days.

  199. 199.

    PanurgeATL

    February 5, 2011 at 1:58 am

    @Mnemosyne:

    But what does that say about the real state of rock these days? I mean, I’m glad for you that you like it, but if the same thing were happening to classic rock, the post-punk hip crowd would be beside themselves inveighing against the intolerable stagnation.

  200. 200.

    Gus

    February 5, 2011 at 10:53 am

    @stuckinred: I also saw Arthur Lee near the end of his life. Unfortunately he was getting over laryngitis, so while his band was fantastic (and young enough to be his grandkids), it wasn’t a good show. I love Love, though.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - Deputinize America - Moorea 2024 2
Image by Deputinize America (7/14/25)
Donate

Recent Comments

  • Matt McIrvin on Monday Night Open Thread (Jul 15, 2025 @ 6:26am)
  • Kathleen on Late Night Open Thread: Obama Speaks (Jul 15, 2025 @ 6:25am)
  • montanareddog on Late Night Open Thread: Obama Speaks (Jul 15, 2025 @ 6:24am)
  • Baud on Late Night Open Thread: Obama Speaks (Jul 15, 2025 @ 6:22am)
  • Matt McIrvin on Monday Night Open Thread (Jul 15, 2025 @ 6:22am)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Feeling Defeated?  If We Give Up, It's Game Over

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!